Paul Tassi
, ContributorNews and opinion about video games, technology and the internetOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

VP Biden meets with gaming leaders this week

It's been a well known fact that Joe Biden has been tasked with formulating the Obama administration's response to the shootings at Sandy Hook, and all the others that have come before it. He's talking to lawmakers, gun lobbies and one final group that's raising a few eyebrows, members of the entertainment and video game industry.

There were just whispers that he was doing so until a recent Reuters report confirmed he was in fact meeting with "representatives" of the video game industry. The industry's inclusion implies that Biden and his task force do hold video games responsible for some part in these killings, or else why include them at all? It's unclear who exactly these people are he's meeting with, but it doesn't really matter.

The simple fact is that the mere idea that the video game industry should be lumped in with the gun industry in crafting a solution for this problem is absurd. And whoever these representatives are? By agreeing to these talks, they're essentially admitting that video games do have something to do with these tragedies, a belief that almost no one in the industry shares. We have to refuse to accept the idea that there's even a remote connection between some kid playing Starcraft and his murder of a classroom of kindergartners.

I'm going to skip over the whole video game violence vs. gun violence debate, as we've covered that exhaustively already. In short ,the idea that these two are remotely even close to equally responsible for mass shootings is ludicrous, as evidenced by countries like Japan with die-hard gaming populations but nearly zero mass shootings. What they do have? Much more restrictive gun laws, and far fewer firearms.

Rather, I want to try and understand what this conversation between Biden and these representatives would even be like. What exactly is the gaming industry supposed to be doing here?

Here's my imagined conversation about how this is going to go:

Biden: "Guys, we really need to keep these violent video games out of these young kids' hands. What do you have for me?"

Video Game Rep: "Well, we have a rating system in place that clearly labels the kind of mature content that comes in each game, along with vastly more detailed explanations online with the ESRB. Nearly all stores refuse to sell Mature rated violent games to anyone under 17, and none even carry Adults Only rated games."

Biden: "So how are kids getting these games?"

Video Game Rep: "Their parents."

Biden: "And how many gamers a year go on shooting rampages?

Video Game Rep: "Two or three out of tens of millions."

Biden: "I think we're about done here."

What are the proposed solutions here for getting violent games out of kids' hands? You could make selling copies of M-rated games to the underage illegal as some states have proposed (and failed to legislate), but it's already against store policy in nearly every nationwide chain, and employees can get fired for doing so.

You could simply decree that games should be less violent in general, but that's censorship, plain and simple, and avid defenders of the Second Amendment should also be equally enthusiastic about the first. So what can the game industry do other than explicitly tell parents "you should probably not buy Splatterhouse for your 12 year old."

But again, we have this false equivalency that keeping video games out of kids hands and keeping guns out of kids hands are equally as important. I understand that it's not every day you get a call from the Vice President's office, but those meeting with him should seriously consider how it looks if they agree to be blamed as part of the problem.